"Ask Modeste if she wants another bird in her cage," replied the
count; "as far as I am concerned, I am willing that my lord the grand
equerry shall pay her attention."
Notwithstanding the care with which Charles Mignon avoided seeing
people, and though he stayed in the Chalet and never went out without
Modeste, Gobenheim had reported Dumay's wealth; for Dumay had said to
him when giving up his position as cashier: "I am to be bailiff for my
colonel, and all my fortune, except what my wife needs, is to go to
the children of our little Modeste." Every one in Havre had therefore
propounded the same question that the notary had already put to
himself: "If Dumay's share in the profits is six hundred thousand
francs, and he is going to be Monsieur Mignon's bailiff, then Monsieur
Mignon must certainly have a colossal fortune. He arrived at
Marseilles on a ship of his own, loaded with indigo; and they say at
the Bourse that the cargo, not counting the ship, is worth more than
he gives out as his whole fortune."
The colonel was unwilling to dismiss the servants he had brought back
with him, whom he had chosen with care during his travels; and he
therefore hired a house for them in the lower part of Ingouville,
where he installed his valet, cook, and coachman, all Negroes, and
three mulattos on whose fidelity he could rely.
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